Have you ever experienced an incredible gift from God and all you can do is shout it from the rooftops and let everyone else know about it?
One time, I received a beautiful gift from God. I resonated with the passage where we're told, "you have reaped where you did not sow" (Matthew 25:24).
As I received with wonder and gratitude, I began telling everyone who would listen about what God had done.
The response was painful.
There were words of discouragement, hurt, doubt, and unbelief repeated back to me. I was accused of lying, I was gossiped about, and when there were words spoken about me behind my back that I found out about, I ended up in a room with a mentor asking, "how did this happen? What did I do wrong?" with tears in my eyes.
I will never forget her response. She replied with Matthew 7:6,
"Do not give dogs what is sacred; do not throw your pearls to pigs. If you do, they may trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces."
She told me that I had received a spiritual "pearl" from God; a good and beautiful gift. But not every person in our lives will care, respect, and honor that pearl in the same way we would.
The next time I received a spiritual pearl, I thought back to that conversation and was incredibly cautious about how I cared for it and who I entrusted it to.
Remember last week's post about receiving a vision from God? Those visions are pearls. They are not meant to be shared with everyone.
There is a fascinating passage in the Bible when Jesus goes to heal Jarius' daughter. Mark 5:39-41 NIV says:
"He went in and said to them,'Why all this commotion and wailing? The child is not dead but asleep.' But they laughed at him. After he put them all out, he took the child’s father and mother and the disciples who were with him, and went in where the child was. He took her by the hand and said to her, “Talitha koum!” (which means “Little girl, I say to you, get up!”).
When Jesus said with faith the child is not dead, he was laughed at. This is a form of a vision. His vision was for this girl's life to continue on earth. The people around him were not able to steward that vision with faith. So what does Jesus do?
He makes them leave. He only lets the people with faith stay in the room, the people who were going to protect the vision and hope for life. The people who were ready to witness what came next; a miracle.
Some people in our lives are not ready to witness what comes next. Some people are. Evaluate who is in the room with you right now. Be cautious who you share the vision with now, and discern if they are ready to witness what comes next.
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